Heathrow airport bosses 'confident' over new Terminal 2 opening

High-flier: the new Terminal 2 at Heathrow, which will have a John Lewis branch and a Heston Blumenthal restaurant, and will eventually be used by 26 airlines (Picture: Glenn Copus)

Heathrow bosses today said they were “confident but not complacent” about tomorrow’s first new terminal opening since the disastrous launch of T5 in 2008.

The first passengers to pass through the £2.5 billion Terminal 2 will arrive at around 5.30am for a United Airlines flight to Washington, almost 60 years after the original building opened as the airport’s first facility in 1955.

The airport said “there will inevitably be teething problems” but insisted it had “learned the lessons” from the fiasco of the Terminal 5 opening six years ago. The launch then of British Airways’ new passenger hub was blighted by huge queues, flight delays and thousands of missing bags.

Heathrow said it has carried out more than 180 trials of Terminal 2’s systems over the past six months involving 14,000 volunteers.

More than 100,000 bags have already passed through its baggage system in tests.

The terminal will operate at just 10 per cent of total flight capacity on the first day to ensure a smooth launch.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow development director and chief executive designate said: “Terminal 2 is the culmination of an £11 billion investment programme that has transformed Heathrow for passengers. ...our measure of success is not everything running perfectly on day one — there will inevitably be things we can improve. Our real measure of success is whether Terminal 2 comes to be rated by passengers as one of the world’s best airport terminals.”

The building, officially named Terminal 2: The Queen’s Terminal, has a first airport branch of John Lewis and a new Heston Blumenthal restaurant.

United Airlines will operate 34 inbound and departing flights for 6,000 passengers on the first day and the terminal — to be officially opened by the Queen on June 23 — will eventually be home to 26 airlines.

The UK’s biggest airline, easyJet, would consider moving into Heathrow if it was allowed to build a third runway, chief executive Carolyn McCall said today, damaging Gatwick’s claim that it should have Britain’s next runway because Heathrow is too expensive for budget carriers.